Blue and White Quilt Progress

This is the bottom quarter of "my" side of the blue and white striped quilt.  

There is less gold and red, more cream, a quieter side, night to day, female to male, yin to yang, to completely mix up my cultures!

If you compare my quilt with the pattern in Selvedge magazine (link a couple of posts back) you will see that I am embracing random while the design that inspired me is anything but!

It looks rather wobbly at the bottom, I blame that on it being pinned to the airing cupboard door for the photograph!  I've had a lot of stitching time over the wet weekend and only have one more quarter like this to piece and then the layering and quilting starts. I visited Camelot Crafts, my LQS, for wadding yesterday and Laurie kindly cut the yardage into four quarters, perfect for 'quilt as you go' for this project and I didn't have to find the floor space to do it.

I'll be at Country Roads Quilters for the first time since January on Tuesday and am really looking forward to catching up with everyone, welcoming a new member and seeing what all the clever ladies are creating. I'll try to remember to take some photographs.

Blue and White Quilt

Two posts in two days!  With all those goodies from the Springfields Quilt Show calling me I have been machine piecing today, quite a rare occupation for me these days.  

I have used basically blue Japanese cottons from my stash and those I bought from Katie on Friday to make a start on my strippy quilt (I wrote about this idea recently and showed a picture of the inspiration).

This is one quarter of the quilt top pieced, it measures approximately 42" square.  The quilt will be for our bed but I'm doing it in four "quilt as you go" sections for ease as it will have both machine (on the white) and hand (blue) quilting.

Also today, I've done a little research on my new toy sewing machine. It's a Muller 15, made in Germany by F. W. Muller at the beginning of the twentieth century.  She needs an appropriate name..,

Weekend Show and Tell

I've just unpacked my goodies from the weekend and thought I'd share them with you (virtually-speaking, of course).  The haul shown above is from Images of Egypt and there are exciting things to be creative with, including a couple of their amazing £1 offcut bags.

On Friday I attended the Springfields Quilt Show and was impressed with how this small show is developing. The quality of stalls, workshops and displays was much higher than on previous visits.  The catering is still poor but I had time out of the show to visit a local café. The best thing, though, as ever, was the time spent meeting fellow quilters both around the show and on stands.

This quilt, by Kathy Unwin, caught my attention, it really appealed to me for many reasons.

Here's a detail and the label:

I was delighted that Katie Chaplin, of Japan Crafts, was attending the show and had a lovely chat with her as well as selecting some gorgeous fabrics:

I was caught by a member of Country Roads Quilters who said she was "amazed" to find me looking at Japanese fabric!!!

This is not Japanese but it is indigo.

A length of vintage indigo-dyed fabric from a Hmong pleated skirt.  I was also tempted by this quilt hanger, made from wood recycled from looms by Burmese refugees. The carving is traditional but not an original piece.  I spent a long time talking to Beryl Lee on the Karenni Student Development Programme stand, do take a look at www.ksdp.org.uk (website currently being upgraded but it has a link to their Facebook page).

On Saturday I had a change of pace, spending the day with Angela Daymond at Fenland Textile Studio. I trialled a dyeing idea for her and now have this piece to do something creative with, preferably before Festival of Quilts!  It's dyed with logwood and weld.

There was also a surprise waiting for me at the studio, this stunning baby:

Some research is needed, and some dusting, but isn't she cute?

I hope it was a good weekend for you.  To top it off I think Summer has arrived, we had wonderful weather from Thursday onwards. And, in case you think I ran short of food while doing all this textile stuff, here's dessert from The Black Horse at Gosberton Risegate last night:

Would You Like to Be A Global Piecer?

It is strange how things work out sometimes.  At the moment I should be absolutely in panic mode, doing the final checks and arrangements for the first Global Piecers' Summit. In fact I am calm and just have to pack my weekend bag for a trip to Spalding with DH.

The idea of the summit came about after one member said she would be visiting UK at about this time and so we decided to see if most of us could get together.  A lot of enthusiasm and an itinerary was born, with a visit to the Springfields Quilt Show this weekend, a workshop with Angela Daymond and then all up to Bridlington for more quilting delight, cake and time together at the Royal Hotel plus a visit to the Quilt Museum in York.  The husbands had their own itinerary!

Anyway, life took over and, one by one, the Global Piecers gave their reasons for being unable to attend.  Initially I was upset, even while understanding their reasons but now, I am relieved beyond belief.  How could I have arranged the summit with everything that has been happening recently?  I haven't even been able to arrange a hair appointment!!  As I say, strange how things work out.

The Global Piecers are having a Summer break (even though some are in Winter) but we will be arranging new swaps and chatting over the Yahoo group pages come September.  It seems a good time to invite new members;  fresh ideas and enthusiasm are always a good thing for any group of people and we have lost a couple of long standing members recently as their passion for quilting became replaced by other creative addictions.  We don't want to be a massive group but a few quilters from anywhere around the world would be very welcome.

The Global Piecers' home page is here:  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/globalpiecers/info

and I have a page on this blog about our recent swaps (click on the link to the right).

The group is closed, you have to apply to join before you have access to our posts.  This protects our addresses and contact details as well as making members feel confident about sharing their thoughts.

Absolute Unbroken Continuity - May 2015

This is my journal quilt for May.  The words, "absolute unbroken continuity", come from a poem my sister read at Daddy's funeral earlier this month.  It was Death is Nothing At All by Henry Scott Holland.  The quiltlet is similar to my usual style, and adheres to my rules.  The text this time was printed rather than written and I overlaid the fabrics with some sheers.  The stitching is all done by hand.

Today I remembered why I don't often make large quilts these days.  I spent a few hours layering this sampler quilt from a thousand years ago.  All that crawling on the floor, smoothing, adjusting, phewy.  The quilt itself is not terrible square (it was one of the very first quilts I pieced, using Lynne Edwards' Sampler Quilt book), and I like it but it has many, many faults.  I felt bad for it, sitting there in my sewing room, thrown over for more "arty" pieces and decided to layer it, quilt it and then use it!!

Talking of "arty" pieces, today was windy and sunny and a perfect day to rehang my prayer flags in the garden.  DH put the re-proofed gazebo up yesterday, complete with fairy lights, so we are all ready for balmy summer days and evenings.  The prayer flags from friends have been joined by a classic set I bought when we were in New Zealand last year and are all fluttering away beautifully with the prayer:

"May all beings everywhere receive benefit and find happiness".

The Quilters' Guild published a link to this pattern on Facebook and I loved it, possibly because it's blue and white/Japanese/indigo fabrics.  For whatever reason, it has inspired me to make a similar quilt with some of my indigo fabrics.  It will be for our bed, so a king size.  I have obviously forgotten the lessons of earlier already, but have been having fun pulling out all kinds of blue fabric.

http://www.selvedge.org/uploads/how-to-items/downloadables/How-To-Make-a-Strippy-Quilt-Instructions.pdf

http://www.selvedge.org/blog/?p=10754

http://www.selvedge.org/uploads/how-to-items/downloadables/How-To-Make-a-Strippy-Quilt.pdf

Indigo Prayers

My dear Indigo Sister, Judi, stitched this prayer flag for me. It was waiting for me, having flown all the way from Australia, when I returned home from Daddy's funeral.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to open the package and find this special gift inside.  If recipients of the prayer flags I stitch feel at least half as special as I did I would be honoured.  Thank you Judi.

New Zealand Remembered - a finish

Finished!

I have finished my quilt of New Zealand journal quilts and this afternoon the sun is shining so I have managed to take a picture.

I composed a haiku for each place that inspired me and have written these on the quilt in permanent ink.

The six blocks are:

Top left

"Meeting of the Waters"

Where oceans collide

By pohutakawa root

Spirits travel home.

Top right

"Kuaotunu"

Darting dotterels

Glistening white silica

Natural treasures.

Middle left

"Tangiwai"

Ravenous lahar

Consumes express, bridge, landscape

Leaving weeping waters.

Middle right

"Wellington"

Shiny jewel box city

Not two hundred thousand souls

All vibrant, singing.

Bottom left

"Taupo"

Troll the chilly depths

Tranquility on water

Head in the sunshine.

Bottom right

"Manaia at Huka Falls"

Swirling white fury

Crash over the precipice

Meet still sacred flow.

As well as reminding me of places this quilt is a wonderful reminder of people.  Some friends saw my work in progress, some shopped with me for threads and fabric, some shared the places I visited.

RIP David Harwood

You know when you say, "Hey, at least it can't get any worse....."?

Many of you already know that it has and I thank you for your messages, prayers, cards and support, you have helped more than you can know.  

Other friends, blog readers and Facebook friends that I don't communicate with very regularly, will not know that Daddy died suddenly on 18th April.  His funeral is not until 13th May and so we are all in a strange limbo.  This limbo is preferable to the limbo we might have been experiencing as Daddy  discovered he had secondary cancers (liver and spleen) a week before he died.  His death was unrelated to the cancers, being due to a ruptured colon, and he died with dignity and free of pain.  God moves in mysterious ways indeed, Daddy would have hated a slow, miserable death being cared for at home or in a hospice, he would have been very irritable about the whole thing.

These are two of my favourite pictures of Daddy, this one taken a year ago, the oldest and youngest members of the family:

and this one taken with Mummy on their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 2006:

Needless to say I am doing a lot of stitching.  I have been working on my New Zealand journal quilts and the hand stitching has been marvellously therapeutic and it somehow felt as if I was stitching my prayers into the quilt (there was no time to make a prayer flag for Daddy) even though Daddy never visited NZ.  This is not a good photograph, apologies.  I have to quilt the "Wellington" block and then add the binding and labels.  I have haikus to add but haven't decided yet whether they should go on the blocks or on the back....

It's a Bank Holiday weekend here, three days of chilly winds but some sunshine promised, have fun whatever you get up to and I'm hoping normal service will be resumed fairly shortly.  Love Lis xx

Getting Things in Perspective

It has been a very difficult period for my family recently but we are beginning to appreciate that the light at the end of the tunnel might not be an express train.

Getting things into perspective has been the order of the day over Easter and so that is the inspiration for my April quiltlet for the Contemporary Group Challenge.  The quotation is from Marcus Aurelius and I am continuing to adhere to all my rules.  This piece is based on groynes on the beach.

I stitched a prayer flag for my DD Sara over the Easter holiday.  She likes it but thinks it is a shame that the idea is that it disintegrates in the wind and weather.  I told her the prayers are already sent (and answered in some cases) and so I think she might hang the flag somewhere sheltered.

What else? Well how about these gorgeous Kantha stitched creatures on fabric dyed with woad?  Angela Daymond (Fenland Textile Studios) will be selling kits to create these yourself at Festival of Quilts this Summer.  She asked several people to trial the kit contents and instructions.  I've never measured the amount of thread I'm using before, quite interesting!  All the thread is beautiful Aurifil in various weights, including lana wool, all lovely to stitch with.  The Kantha stitching has been very therapeutic to work, just what the doctor ordered.

I love the movement and sense of freedom exhibited by Angela's hare.

The heron is so elegant and haughty.

This last hare is on plain fabric, not woad dyed and is only 4" round so it will be the perfect introduction to Kantha stitching.

Shaving Foam Printing

Some fabric friends share magazines or ideas, some point you in an interesting direction and then there are fabric friends like Ros.

On Sunday she showed me an article about shaving foam printing in an issue of Fabrications magazine.  On Monday morning she sent me a text saying she had gathered EVERYTHING we needed to have a go! Now is that impressive or what?

We filled a tray with shaving foam.  

Good tip:  lining the tray with cling film makes an easy way to gather up and dispose of foam and ink later.

We dropped, sprayed and dribbled various kinds of textile paints on the foam.

Using a skewer and a chopstick we swirled the inks together.

Pretty!

We took prints from the surface of the foam.

We left the ink to dry for a few minutes, scraped the remaining foam from the surface of the fabric and then ironed it (under a cloth) to fix the dye.

Ta dah!!  Thanks Ros, just what the doctor ordered!!